Journalists from across the UK are to lobby a major industry conference as part of Stand Up for Journalism day on Monday, November 5.

The National Union of Journalists will lobby the Society of Editors conference in Manchester as part of a Europe-wide campaign.

There will also be lobbies at the European Parliament, French National Assembly, and in towns and cities across the UK.

In Manchester, journalists and their supporters will gather outside the offices of the Manchester Evening News for a march to the Radisson Hotel to lobby the editors’ conference.

There will be a rally in defence of journalism at 1.30pm as photographers, reporters, sub-editors, producers, and news readers say “enough is enough” to what they see as damaging industry cut-backs.

The union is protesting against what it calls “savage” cuts, which it says hamper the ability to keep the public informed. Members from broadcasting, newspapers, magazines, PR, and online will be involved.

Union president Michelle Stanistreet said: “The media is owned by a smaller and smaller group of extremely wealthy corporations.

“They make big profits but they want more. So journalists face a constant round of job cuts and dwindling editorial budgets. This means that more and more news is just recycled press releases.

“We want our editors to join with us and stand up to the culture of cuts. If they believe that journalism is important for democracy and for local communities they must take a stand.

“They are meeting on a site that was developed to commemorate the Peterloo massacre. We hope they will take courage from history and seize the moment.”

Michelle Stanistreet and NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear will be among the speakers.

The National Union of Journalists is protesting at “round after round of cuts” in the big media companies to increase profit margins.

It fears journalists are reduced to a cross between call-centre workers and data processors.

They criticise ways of working which see journalists stuck at their desks re-jigging press releases, and fears that corruption, lies, and law-breaking in the corridors of power may never be investigated – or even uncovered because of a lack of time and resources.